Turning unused land to veggie garden

I would love to see this done across London. I see too many little plots of land turned dumping ground or overgrown with weeds just on the way home. And to think it takes years to get an allotment!

Read on – Dump sites used for growing veg.

Scenes from the Walthamstow Farmer’s Market

The damage :

“organically reared rare breed Suffolk redpoll beef” minced beef £3.58/0.45kg  and “organically reared rare breed Tamworth pork” pork chops £4.24/0.42 kg from Muck & Magic Farming Ltd

turkey sausages with fresh cranberries £2.84/0.40kg and free range chicken thighs £3.20/0.39kg from Pastures Poultry Farm

ginger and spring onion sausages £3.86/0.39kg  from The Giggly Pig Company

2 half-loaf cakes (banana + ginger and fig) £2.50 each

Find your local markets from our list.

middle of autumn : have you turned the heating on yet?

I think I’m going to start wearing gloves tomorrow. My hands were frozen this morning as I trekked to work.

Last week had seen the weather turned quite warm for this time of the year. But winter is fast approaching, and at home we have been resisting turning on the heat in spite of some cold spells.

We’ve come across some great blogs sharing tips on how to keep warm without turning the heat up. 

Get clicking, we’ve got the tips from the Apartment Therapy Re-Nest site  which ran 2 helpful articles – 30 Ways to Live and Stay Green in a Cold and Frozen Climate and 14 Ways To Keep Warm Without Turning the Heat On or Up. We’ve thrown in also a few of our own ideas. So here some things we’re keeping in mind,

• warm colours inside the home can make a difference
• get cosy on the feet with rugs
• get started on those winter warmer food and drinks - stews and baked goodies warms up the kitchen and the home, and of course a cup of good old tea, coffee or hot cocoa, and wrap your fingers around the mug.
• when the sun is out outside, let the sunshine in.
• use layers in your beddings. and layers on you as well - wear a hat. wear socks. put a hot water bottle under the sheets with you. or just snuggle up with someone.
• cleaning is good exercise, keeps you warm too. keep moving around.
• block drafts from doors or windows. we’re putting cling film on our drafty windows and drawing the curtains closed at night. if you can, put curtains over your doors.
• close the doors on each rooms, and heat only rooms you’re using. Better yet, make the kids do their homework and your partner to drag the laptop on the dining table whilst you cook. Warm up the family together.
• warm up some beanbags to keep hands warm. Use around the house or when you’re out and about.

Wishlist: some place to rent out solar panels

I think it’s a viable business opportunity for someone with the means. And I can just imagine how great an impact it would make to the planet.

Across the pond (why do they have the great ideas out there?), a company called citizenre helps put solar energy within the reach of everyone. Installing solar panels is expensive. The company installs, operates and maintains the solar panels in your home, saving you on the equipment costs. You pay rent on the service and equipment costs and save on electricity bills.

Ok, we’re still renting. And can’t reallly begin to think about installing solar panels at the roof of our flats. But we’ll be owning our own home at some point down the line, and we’d want to make it as green as possible.

But for those of you who are living in your own home (and owns the roof) and have money to spare, get ideas on suitability from the energy saving trust site and how to get funding from the  Low Carbon Buildings Programme.

Have a green Halloween

A lot of kids (and kids at heart) love the Halloween and go through great lengths decorating their homes and making costumes for trick or treating. We hope you’d enjoy all the festivities that goes with it, but spare a thought for the environment and heed some of the tips we’ve gathered around the net:

The daily green has posted lots of ways to green up your halloween:

• reuse costumes instead of buying new.
• trick and treat kids to organic lollipops, organic/fairtrade chocolates, money, recycled paper and pencils in loot bags.
• reverse trick and treat. This is something new to us. Global exchange encourages kids to educate adults by handing out Fairtrade chocolates with cards attached explaining what Fairtrade is. This is happening across the pond.
• have a party. celebrate at home instead of trick or treating. send electronic invites and trat kids to cupcake decorating and pumpkin carving.
• decorate with nature. instead of buying plastic decors.
• light up the night. use LEDs. non-toxic window paints. use candles made from beeswax or soy.
• turn it over to the kids. instead of buying decors from shops, have the kids make decorations. try to recycle stuff.
• try a new bag. use reusable bags to hold the loots, we sell organic, fairtade bags here at guui.
• save for next year.  pack up costumes and decors, and save for next year.

and a few more:

• make sure to not waste the pumpkins by making soups and pies out of them.
• walk the kids around instead of driving them to go trick or treating.
• teach your kids to make sure they dispose of candy wrappers properly and that using flour and eggs is a bad trick.
• learn more about your halloween candies from the treehugger.